Child paralyzed from 'polio-like' illness AFM able to walk again after nerve transfer surgery

By KASSIDY VAVRA

Nov 06, 2018 | 7:00 AM

Dr. Amy Moore performed a life-changing nerve transfer surgery on 8-year-old Brandon Noblitt (pictured) that gave him the ability to walk again. (CBS News)

While the “polio-like” illness Acute Flaccid Myelitis is considered untreatable and often leaves children paralyzed, one boy regained the ability to walk with a nerve transfer surgery from a St. Louis doctor.

Dr. Amy Moore of Washington University performed a life-changing nerve transfer surgery on 8-year-old Brandon Noblitt that gave him the ability to walk again.

Advertisement

A week after he fell sick in 2016, Brandon was paralyzed and diagnosed with AFM, his father Brian Noblitt told CBS News.

Life was challenging after the boy became paralyzed and wheelchair-bound.

"While all your friends are running around and playing, it's just hard to sit in the bed and do nothing the whole time,” Brandon told CBS.

Moore performed the surgery 14 months ago. At his doctor’s appointment last week, Brandon was walking. He said the only time he uses his wheelchair is to play basketball.

"It's been amazing," Brandon said. "Thanks to Miss Doctor Moore, I can go outside, play with my brothers, play football."

The nerve transfers are most successful within nine months of AFM diagnosis, Moore said. Children see better results than adults because their nerves grow more quickly.

"I used what they have,” she told CBS News. “They were wiggling their toes, and so I was able to move a nerve that wiggles the toes to the hips."

As of Monday, the CDC has confirmed 80 cases of AFM across 25 states this year — from 219 cases under inspection.

The cause of the illness, which often begins as an upper respiratory infection and progresses to paralysis in as quickly as a few hours, is unknown.

The disease has been linked with outbreaks of Enterovirus D-68, but because of voluntary case reporting and inconsistent testing methods, the total number of cases could be more widespread than reported, and the exact cause remains a mystery.

Some doctors believe AFM may be caused by a specific virus or family of viruses, but without mandatory reporting to the CDC and consistent testing methods, it is difficult to identify.

Although the cause is unknown, the CDC director said it does not appear to be transmissible person-to-person.